A new affordable housing initiative has been launched for a Peak District town in the week it was revealed to be one of Britain's most expensive towns to buy property.
Bakewell Town Council decided to back an affordable housing needs survey for the town after a presentation by Dales rural housing enabler Isabel Bellamy.
Councillors agreed a detailed house-by-house survey was important if they were to apply for g
rants and funding in the future.
Ms Bellamy will now bring a draft copy of the rural housing survey to Bakewell Town Council next month before it will be sent to every home in the town.
Mayor Carol Walker said at Monday's meeting: "We need affordable housing because we don't want to become an old person's town.
"If we don't we simply won't have any young people left here," she added.
A survey by Halifax Estate Agency this week found Bakewell to be the most expensive market town in northern England, with houses costing an average of £331,117.
The report found the cost of an average Bakewell home to be 99 per cent above the county average.
Cllr Walker told the Mercury the evidence showed Bakewell needed more affordable homes.
Cllr Walker: "A recent survey said we were the ninth most desirable place to live in Britain which is great, but that is reflected in the price of the houses.
"My three boys are in their thirties and have had to move out of Bakewell. It's not a good situation when people cannot afford to live where they were born.
"It's quite a controversial subject and different authorities say different things.
"But I know there's a need affordable homes and I think the housing survey will show that," she added.
